Vibrator and circuit therefor



Nov. 30, 1948. c. HUETTEN VIBRA'IOR AND CIRCUIT THEREFOR Filed April 20, 1943 k W a W r m I.

m aw Y. B U/w HTTORNEYS Patented Nov. 30, 1948 VIBRATOR AND CIRCUIT THEREFOR Clarence Huetten, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to P. R. Mallory & Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application April 20, 1943, Serial No. 483,714

17 Claims.

1 This invention relates to electromagnetic vibratory interrupters and circuits therefor.

An object of the invention is to improve vibrators and vibrator ciruits.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 shows a vibrator and its associated A.

circuit embodying features of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows another vibrator circuit:

Figure 3 shows a modification thereof;

Figure 4 shows a further virbrator circuit wherein the reed is isolated from the circuit; and

Figures 5 and 6 show further vibrator circuits.

A feature of the present invention resides in a mechanical series arrangement of contacts in a vibrator whereby a first pair of contacts is closed by the motion of the reed and a second pair of contacts is closed as the motion continues. In some cases the arrangement is extended to include still further contacts. The invention also contemplates improved circuits associated with the vibrator of the type described.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows an electromagnetic vibratory interrupter or vibrator of the type described in Slater Patent No. 2,190,- 685, for example. The vibrator comprises a frame [0 of paramagnetic material such as iron having elongated body H and a pole piece 12 formed at one end of the body by bending the body into a hook shape so that the pole piece I2 is disposed parallel to the main body I l in spaced relation thereto. An electromagnet winding I3 is disposed over the pole l2. contact arms l5, l6, I1 and 18 formed of fiat spring stock are clamped to the opposite end of the body ll of the frame by a bolt l9 passing through a series of insulatin spacing blocks 20 which are interposed between the reed and the respective spring arms to clamp them in spaced substantially parallel relation. The reed l4 projects toward the free end of pole I2 of the electromagnet and carries a paramagnetic armature 2i at its free end adjacent to, but off-set from, the end of pole l2 so that magnetization of the pole piece by electromagnet winding 13 will attract the armature.

The reed carries a pair of contacts 22 and 23.

supported on short spring arms 24 and 25 which are secured to opposite faces of the midportion of the reed. The spring arms l5 and I! carry contacts 26 and 21 on' their inner faces at their free ends in cooperative relation with reed contacts 22 and 23 respectively.

A reed l4 and. four Spring arms l5 and I1 carry a second pair oi contacts 28 and 29 on their outer faces at their ends and spring arms 46 and i8 carry contacts 30 and 3| at their ends to cooperate therewith. Spring arms l5 and ll are thus interposed between the reed and outermost spring arms is and I8 respectively on the two sides of the reed.

It will be apparent that as the reed is vibrated by intermittent energization of electromagnet winding [3 that the reed contacts 22 and 23 will alternately move into engagement with contact 26 and 21 respectively. Moreover, when contact 22, for example, engages contact 26, if the swing of the reed continues, spring arm it will be carried along with the reed swing until contact 28 engages contact Elli an instant after contacts 22 and 26 are brought into engagement. The same thing will occur on the opposite side of the reed as the reed swings in the opposite direction. It will also beapparent that if the reed swing is suificiently great, additional spring arms can be mounted outside of arms l6 and M3 to add further contacts to the series.

The construction described has application in a number of vibrator circuits which also comprise a part of the present invention.

In vibrator circuits used heretofore for supplying direct current of fairly high voltageirom a battery or other low voltage source a vibrator has been associated with a transformer in such manner that the vibrator connects the battery alternately through the two halves of a transformer primary windin and the high alternating voltage v generated across the secondary winding of the transformer is rectified to produce a high voltage direct current supply. The rectification may be accomplished in either of two ways: by the use of rectifier tubes or by using vibrator contacts which reverse the connections of the secondary circuit in synchronism with the voltage alternations generated in the secondary winding.

In this second type of rectifying system used heretofore it has been customary to mount two contacts in parallel on each face of the reed and two parallel contact arms on each side of the reed to cooperate therewith. The contact spacing has been adjusted so that the first pair of contacts to close will energize the primary winding of the transformer and the second pair of contacts will close an instant later to connect the secondary winding to the output circuit. When the reed swings back toward mid-position, the secondary circuit is opened an instant before the primary circuit. It has been found, however, that erosion of the electric contacts or improper contact adiustment may result in the contacts closing and opening in the opposite order in which case the most emcient functioning of the circuit is not obtained.

The circuit shown in Figure 1 utilizing the vibrator of the present invention entirely avoids the possibility of the contacts being operated in the wrong sequence. In this circuit the battery 32 is the low voltage source. One terminal of the battery is connected to the reed and to one end of winding is while the other terminal is connected to the mid-point of transformer primary windin 33 inductively associated with secondary winding 34. The two ends of primary winding 33 are connected respectively to spring arms i5 and ii. The two ends of secondary winding 34 are connected respectively to spring arms i6 and i8 and the mid-point of secondary 34 is connected to one of the-high voltage D. C. output terminals 35. Y The, other output terminal 36 is connected to the reed of the vibrator. The other end of electromagnet winding is is connected to spring arm I! and the righthand end of the primary. 1

1n the operation of this circuit when the battery is first connected an energizing circuit is established for electromagnet winding 63 through the right end half of transformer primary 33. The electromagnet winding is of high resistance so that a small magnetizing current flows suflicient to magnetize pole i2 and attract the reed Q4. The swing of the reed closes contacts 23, 21 thereby short-circuiting the electromagnet winding i3 and permitting the current in the right hand half of the primary 33 to rapidly increase thus generating a high voltage across secondary winding 34.

An instant after contacts 23, 23 close the reed 4 are connected to the intermediate spring arms on the right hand side of the vibrator.

In operation primary windings 31 and 33 are connected to operate in parallel by separate con tacts while the single secondary winding has parallel contacts connected to it. The use of two primary windings provides distribution of the load between the contacts in the primary circuits, so that a greater power can be converted without overloading any of the contacts. With dual primaries the load and contact erosion is divided between the contacts.

swing carries spring arm ill along with it to close contacts 29, 3! thereby closing the secondary circuit through the right hand half of secondary winding 34 to establish a high voltage across output terminals 35, 36.

As the reed begins its return swing, contacts 28, 3| are first opened to open the secondary circuit after which contacts 23, 27 open the primary circuit. The reed continues its return swing to close contacts 22, 2'! and then contacts 28, 30 to close the left hand halves of transformer windings 33 and 34 respectively in sequence. This reversal, however, preserves the same polarity on output terminals 35, 36 so that a D. C. output is supplied to these terminals.

The circuit of Figure 2 may be used where heavier output loads are required. In this circuit the vibrator used is provided with two contacts mounted in parallel on both its faces and two parallel series of spring arm contacts are mounted to cooperate therewith. For example, on the left hand side the reed carries contacts 40 and 4| in parallel, such as shown in Figure 10 of Slater Patent No. 2,190,685. Contact 40 cooperates with the inside contact of spring arm 42. The outer contact of arm 42 engages the contact on the outermost arm 43 of the series. Contact 4! of the reed and contact arms 44 and 45 cooperate in the same manner.

In this circuit a. transformer is used having two center tapped primaries 3"! and 38 cooperating with a single secondary winding 39. The ends of the secondary winding are connected in parallel to the outermost contact springs on the vibrator, such as springs 43 and 45. The left hand ends of primary windings 3i and 38 are connected respectively to the intermediate spring arms 42 and 44 and the right hand ends of these windings Figure 3 shows a modification of the circuit of Figure 2 wherein two secondary windings 41 and 48 are associatedrespectively with primary windings 31 and 38. The left hand end of one secondary winding 41 is connected to contact spring 45 of the vibrator and the left hand end of secondary winding 48 is connected to contact spring 43, and the right hand ends of the secondary windings are connected in a corresponding manner to the other side of the vibrator. This provides two independent power supply circuits operated from a common battery and vibrator.

The vibrator of Figure 4 is of modified construction. The reed 50 of this vibrator is isolated from the circuit and does not carry contacts but has projections 51 and 52 secured to its opposite faces. These projections engage bosses 53 and 54 on the inner races of spring arms 55 and 55 mounted on the two sides of the reed. These springarms carry contacts which cooperate with contacts on a second pair of spring arms 51 and 58 mounted outside them in the series.

Arms 51 and 58 in turn carry contacts for cooperation with contacts on outermost arms 59 and 60 mounted outside them. Arms 55 and 56 are connected to one terminal of battery 32 and arms 51 and 58 are connected to the ends of transformer primary winding 33. The two ends of secondary winding 34 are connected to spring arms 59 and 60. By this arrangement the reed 50 is freed of any requirement to carry electric current. It is, thereby, possible to select reed materials for their mechanical properties alone since electric current carrying requirements need not be considered. Moreover, since no current is carried by the reed, it will not be subject to over-heating due to this cause. This construction is also useful as an equivalent to a. dual or split-reed type vibrator in voltage doubler circuits or other circuits where dual or split-reed vibrators are used. I

Figure 5 shows a vibrator circuit for supplying two independent output circuits from a single vibrator and battery. In this case two transformers are used. The center taps of both primary windings 14 and 15 are connected to the battery. The ends of the primary 14 are connected respectively to spring arms l5 and ll of the vibrator and the ends of primary I5 are connected to spring arms l6 and I8. Secondary winding 16 is associated with primary i4 and secondary 11 with primary 15. The vibrator is similar in construction to that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 shows a heavy duty vibrator circuit of further modified construction. The reed 78 carries parallel contacts on both its faces and three contact arms are mounted in series opposite each of the reed contacts. For example, reed contact 19 first engages contact 80 on innermost spring arm 8|. The outer contact 82 of this arm next engages contact 83 on the second spring arm 8|. ,The outer contact 85 on arm N then engages contact 86 on the outermost arm 81. Spring arm 84 and the other three similar arms are all connected to the reed which is connected to one terminal of battery 32. One end of transformer primary winding 89 is connected to spring arms ll and 8| in parallel and the opposite end of the winding is similarly connected to two spring arms in parallel on the opposite sides of the reed. The secondary winding 90 has one end connected to spring arms 81 and 91 in parallel on the left hand side of the reed and the other end of secondary 80 is similarly connected on the opposite side.

In operation, as the reed swings to the left a circuit through half of the primary winding is first established through contacts 19, 80 after which contacts 82, 83 close to establish a parallel circuit and thereby reduce the contact resistance for the major part of the closed contact interval. Next contact 85, 86 close one half of the secondary winding circuit. As the reed swings back, the contacts open in opposite order to which they closed so that contacts 19, 80 are the last to open. By this arrangement the contact erosion which occurs principally during making and breaking of the contacts is concentrated across contacts 19, 80.

This makes possible the use of different contact materials to improve the performance. For example, it is contemplated that contacts 19 and 80 may be formed of tungsten which is a highly refractory metal and highly resistant to erosion and the effect of contact making and breaking. However, tungsten is somewhat prone to develop rather high contact resistance under some conditions. Contacts 82 and 83, therefore, may be made of a low resistance contact material such as silver or a silver alloy. Silver base materials are particularly suitable since they do not develop high resistance layers during operation or in contaminated atmosphere. By this arrangement the tungsten contacts carry the load during the making and breaking of the contacts while the silver contacts are closed immediately after the tungsten contacts to lower the contact resistance for the majority of the closed contact interval. Since the silver contacts open before the tungsten contacts do, they are not subject, however, to sparking or arcing during either make or break.

It will be apparent that the vibrator contact arrangements and circuits described can also be used with driver contact vibrators such as those shown in Musser Patents 2,207,300 and 2,232,010, or with vibrators having electromagnets controlled by an external source of pulsating or alternating current.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described, it is intended to cover the invention broadly within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A vibratory interrupter comprising a reed, means for vibrating said reed, projections secured to the opposite faces of said reed, and spring arms mounted in spaced relation to opposite faces of said reed and carrying contacts on their free ends, the ends of a first pair of said spring arms being in co-operative spaced relation to said reed projections to be periodically engaged thereby during vibration of said reed, a second pair of spring arms having contacts thereon, in spaced co-operative relation to contacts on said first pair of arms to be alternately engaged thereby when said first arms are alternately sprung outward by said reed during its vibration.

2. A vibratory interrupter comprising a vibratory reed and an electromagnet for vibrating said reed, a pair of reed contacts secured to opposite faces of said reed, a. first pair of spring arms mounted parallel to said reed and carrying contacts at their free ends in face-to-face relation to said reed contacts for co-operation therewith, a second contact on the outer face of each of said spring arms and a second pair of spring arms mounted parallel to said first pair and carrying contacts at their free ends in faceto-face relation to said second contacts for cooperation therewith, whereby said reed, during its vibration will make contact with the inner contact of one of said first spring arms and then move said spring arm to bringthe second contact thereof into engagement with the contact on the second spring arm during each half cycle.

3. An electromagnetic vibratory interrupter comprising a reed formed of a spring clamped at one end and carrying an armature at its free end, an electromagnet for periodically attracting said armature to vibrate said reed, proiections carried by the mid-portion of said reed on opposite faces thereof, a pair of spring arms each supported at one end in spaced relation to opposite faces of said reed with the free ends thereof in spaced relation to the ends of said reed projections to be alternately engaged thereby during vibration of said reed, contacts on the outer faces of said spring arms and mating contacts mounted outside said spring arms in spaced co-operating relation thereto, whereby said mating contacts are alternately engaged by said spring arm contacts when said spring arms are alternately sprung outward by said reed duru ing its vibration.

4. An electromagnetic vibratory interrupter comprising a reed formed of a spring clamped at one end and carrying an armature at its free end. an electromagnet for periodically attracting said armature to vibrate said reed, projections carried by the mid-portion of said reed on opposite faces thereof, a pair of spring arms each supported at one end in spaced relation to opposite faces of said reed with the free ends thereof in spaced relation to the ends of said reed projections to be alternately engaged thereby during vibration of said reed, contacts on the outer faces of said spring arms, a second pair of spring arms each supported at one end in spaced relationto said first pair and carrying contacts on their free ends in spaced co-operative relation with said contacts on the outer faces of said first pair whereby the co-operating contacts are alternately brought into engagement by vibration of said reed, contacts on the outer faces of said second pair of spring arms and further mating contacts mounted independently of said second spring arms in spaced cooperative relation to the outer face contacts of said second arms, to be alternately engaged thereby during vibration of said reed.

5. An electromagnetic vibratory interrupter comprising a reed formed of a spring clamped at one end and carrying an armature at its free end, an electromagnet for periodically attracting said armature to vibrate said reed, contacts carried by the mid-portion of said reed on opposite faces thereof, a pair of contact spring arms supported at one end in spaced relation to opposite faces of said reed and having contacts on their free ends in spaced co-operative relation to said reed 7 contacts to be alternately engaged thereby during vibration of said reed, further contacts on said spring arms on the outer faces thereof and independently supported contacts mounted in spaced relation thereto to be alternately engaged thereby when said spring arms are alternately sprung outward during vibration of said reed.

6. A vibrator system comprising the vibratory interrupter of claim 5, a current source and a transformer, one terminal of said current source Ming connected to said reed and the other terminal to the center of the primary winding of said transformer, the ends of said primary winding being connected respectively to said spring arms, the ends of the secondary windin of said transformer being connected respectively to said independently mounted contacts, and output terminals connected respectively to the center of said secondary winding and to said reed.

'7. A vibrator system comprising the vibratory interrupter of claim 5, a current source and transformer means including two transformer primary windings, one terminal of said current source being connected to said reed and the other terminal to the centers of said primary windings, the ends of one of said primary windings being connected respectively to said spring arms and the ends of the other of said primary windings being connected respectively to said independently mounted contacts.

8. A vibrator system comprising the vibratory interrupter of claim 5, a current source and a transformer, one terminal of said current source being connected to said reed and to said independently mounted contacts and the other terminal to the center of the primary winding of said transformer, the ends of said primary winding being connected respectively to said spring arms, whereby swing of said reed in one direction first closes the energizing circuit through half of said primary winding through said reed contacts and then closes a, parallel circuit through said iii--v dependently mounted contacts and return of the reed opens said contacts in opposite order.

9. A vibrator system comprising the vibratory interrupter of claim 5, a current source and a transformer, one terminal of said current source being connected to said reed and to said independentl mounted contacts and the other terminal to the center of the primary winding of said transformer, the ends of said primary winding being connected respectively to said spring arms, whereby swing of said reed in one direction first closes the energizing circuit through half of said primary winding through said reed contacts and then closes a parallel circuit through said independently mounted contacts and return of the reed opens said contacts in opposite order, said reed contacts and the spring arm contacts co-operating therewith being formed of an elec trical erosion resistant material and said independently mounted contacts and the spring arm contacts co-operating therewith being formed of a low contact resistance material.

10. A vibratory interrupter comprising in combination a reed, means for vibrating said reed, a first series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to one side of said reed, a second series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to the other side of said reed, cooperable contacts carried on the free ends of all of said spring arms, and means on said reed engageable with the nearest spring arm of each series whereby during vibrations of Said reed said spring arms will be sequentially bill deflected and said contacts will be opened and closed in positively predetermined sequence.

11. A vibratory interrupter comprising in colubination a vibratory reed, electromagnetic means for maintaining said reed in vibration. a first series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to one side of said reed, a sec-- ond series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to the other side of said reed, contacts carried on the free ends of all of said spring arms capable of cooperation with contacts of adjacent arms, and means mounted on said reed engageable with the nearest spring arm of each series whereby during vibrations of said reed said contacts will be closed in predetermined sequence and will be opened in opposite sequence, the operation of contacts of the two series being in opposed phase relation.

12. A vibratory interrupter comprising in combination a vibratory reed, electromagnetic means for maintaining said reed in vibration, a first series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to one side of said reed, a second series of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to the other side of said reed. contacts carried on the free ends of all of said spring arms capable of cooperation with contacts of adjacent arms, and contacts mounted on said reed. engageable with contacts on the nearest spring arms of each series whereby during vibra tion of said reed said contacts will be sequentially closed during one-half cycle of such vibration and will be sequentially opened in reversed order during the other half cycle of such vibration, the operation of contacts of the two series being out-ofphase with respect to each other.

13. A vibratory interrupter comprising in combination a reed, means for vibrating said reed, contacts secured to opposite facesof said reed, a first series of two spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to one side of said reed, a second series of two spring arms mounted in spaced relation to each other and to the other side of said reed, and contacts carried on the free ends of all of said spring arms, each of the contacts of said reed and of said spring arms being arranged for sequential cooperation with adjacent contacts whereby during vibrations of said reed said contacts will be closed in positively predetermined sequence and will be opened in the opposite sequence.

14. A vibrator power supply system comprising in combination a vibratory reed, means for vibrating said reed, contacts secured to opposite faces of said reed, a first pair of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to opposite faces of said reed and carrying interrupter contacts on their free ends arranged for cooperation with said reed contacts, a second pair of spring arms mounted in spaced relation to said first pair of arms and carrying rectifier contacts on their free ends arranged for cooperation with other contacts carried on said first pair of arms, a transformer having the ends of its primary winding connected to said first Pair of arms and the ends of its secondary winding connected to said second pair of arms, means for applying an input voltage between said reed and the midpoint of said primary winding, and means for withdrawing a rectified output voltage between said reed and the midpoint of said secondary winding whereby during vibrations of said reed said interrupter and rectifier contacts will be operated in positively predetermined sequence and such sequential operation will be maintained 9 throughout the life of the contact wear.

15. A vibratory interruptercomprlsing in combination a stack, a reed clamped in said stack at one end thereof and free for vibration at the other end thereof, a first series of spring arms clamped system regardless of in said stack at one end thereof in spaced relation to each other and to one side of said reed, a second series of spring arms clamped in said stack at one end thereof in spaced relation to each other and to the other side of said reed, cooperable contacts I 10 table member; a resilient strip adjacent to said oscillatable member; a contact mounted on said oscillatable member; a contact mounted on said strip, said contacts lying in substantially the same plane; said plane extending parallel to the direction of oscillation of said osclllatable member whereby the contact mounted on said member is carried on the free ends of all oi said spring arms, actuating means on said reed engageable with the nearest spring arm of each series, said contacts and said actuating means being in substantial axial alignment, andmeans for vibratin: said reed whereby said spring arms will be sequentially deflected and said contacts will be engage with the contact means on the strip when said member is oscillated toward andfaway from said strip, said strip being flexible by said oscillatable member; and a contact member disposed adjacent said strip and adapted to be engaged by said contact means on said strip when the strip is flexed by said oscillatable member.

17. A circuit interrupter comprising, anoscillh' Number engaged and disengaged with the contact mounted on said strip when said member is oscillated toward and away from said strip, said strip bein flexible by said oscillatable member; a contact member disposed adjacent to said strip, and a contact member mounted on said strip, said contact members lying substantially in the first mentioned planeand being engageable when said strip is flexed. a

' CLARENCE HUETTEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the tile 01' this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 1,312,786 Mahoney Mar. 23, 1915 1,330,059 Currier Feb. 10, 1920 2,032,424 Learet al Mar. 3, 1936 2,107,742 Ruben Feb. 8,1938 Lloyd Feb, 15, 1944 OTHER REFERENCES 'Leiler application 322,436, published May 18, 

